White Americans' heads are getting bigger. That's according to research by forensic anthropologists at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Lee Jantz, coordinator of UT's Forensic Anthropology Center (FAC); Richard Jantz, professor emeritus and former director of the FAC; and Joanne Devlin, adjunct assistant professor, examined 1,500 skulls dating back to the mid-1800s through the mid-1980s. They noticed U.S. skulls have become larger, taller and narrower as seen from the front and faces have become significantly narrower and higher.
The researchers cannot pinpoint a reason as to why American head shapes are changing and whether it is primarily due to evolution or lifestyle changes.
"The varieties of changes that have swept American life make determining an exact cause an endlessly complicated proposition," said Lee Jantz. "It likely results from modified growth patterns because of better nutrition, lower infant and maternal mortality, less physical work, and a breakdown of former ethnic barriers to marriage. Which of these is paramount we do not know."
June 4, 2012
Are wider faced men more self-sacrificing?
Picture a stereotypical tough guy and you might imagine a man with a broad face, a square jaw, and a stoical demeanor. Existing research even supports this association, linking wider, more masculine faces with several less-than-cuddly characteristics, including perceived lack of warmth, dishonesty, and lack of cooperation. But a new study suggests that men with these wide, masculine faces aren't always the aggressive tough guys they appear to be.
"Men with wider faces have typically been portrayed as 'bad to the bone,'" says psychologist Michael Stirrat. But he and David Perrett wondered whether the relationship between facial width and personality was really so simple. They suspected that men who look aggressive and untrustworthy might actually be good guys in some contexts.
In their new study, published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, they predicted that more physically robust men, as identified by a wider face, would be self-sacrificing when their group was competing with another group.
"Men with wider faces have typically been portrayed as 'bad to the bone,'" says psychologist Michael Stirrat. But he and David Perrett wondered whether the relationship between facial width and personality was really so simple. They suspected that men who look aggressive and untrustworthy might actually be good guys in some contexts.
In their new study, published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, they predicted that more physically robust men, as identified by a wider face, would be self-sacrificing when their group was competing with another group.
Porn & Relationships: Men's Pornography Use Tied To Lower Self-Esteem In Female Partners
Young women who report that their romantic partners look at porn frequently are less happy in their relationships than women partnered with guys who more often abstain, new research finds.
The study bolsters some anecdotal evidence that men's porn use can shake the self-esteem of their girlfriends or wives, though certainly not all couples have conflicts over pornography, said study researcher Destin Stewart, a clinical psychology intern at the University of Florida. Stewart decided to investigate the effect of porn on relationships after some of her clients revealed that they were struggling with the issue.
Discovering explicit material on a partner's computer "made them feel like they were not good enough, like they could not measure up," Stewart told LiveScience.
The study bolsters some anecdotal evidence that men's porn use can shake the self-esteem of their girlfriends or wives, though certainly not all couples have conflicts over pornography, said study researcher Destin Stewart, a clinical psychology intern at the University of Florida. Stewart decided to investigate the effect of porn on relationships after some of her clients revealed that they were struggling with the issue.
Discovering explicit material on a partner's computer "made them feel like they were not good enough, like they could not measure up," Stewart told LiveScience.
Artificial DNA Copies Just Like the Real Thing
The language of life is about to expand its vocabulary. An international team of researchers discovered that the body's copying machine for DNA works in the same way for manmade, artificial building blocks of DNA as it does for the natural kind.
If scientists find artificial DNA building blocks work well and are safe to use, the extra building materials could create DNA that codes for new molecules that the body can't make now. The artificial DNA could also form the basis of a partly synthetic organism.
The DNA code in living things is made of four different molecules, called bases, that are nicknamed A, T, C and G. In a double row of DNA, the bases always link up to each other in a specific way, with A's matching with T's and C's matching with G's. In 2008, a team of researchers created a third, artificial pair of DNA molecules made to match with each other, named NaM and 5SICS. In this new study, some of the same researchers used a technique called X-ray crystallography to take pictures of A, T, C, G, NaM and 5SICS while they were getting copied in a test tube.
If scientists find artificial DNA building blocks work well and are safe to use, the extra building materials could create DNA that codes for new molecules that the body can't make now. The artificial DNA could also form the basis of a partly synthetic organism.
The DNA code in living things is made of four different molecules, called bases, that are nicknamed A, T, C and G. In a double row of DNA, the bases always link up to each other in a specific way, with A's matching with T's and C's matching with G's. In 2008, a team of researchers created a third, artificial pair of DNA molecules made to match with each other, named NaM and 5SICS. In this new study, some of the same researchers used a technique called X-ray crystallography to take pictures of A, T, C, G, NaM and 5SICS while they were getting copied in a test tube.
Why Are Genius and Madness Connected?
Many of history's most celebrated creative geniuses were mentally ill, from renowned artists Vincent van Gogh and Frida Kahlo to literary giants Virginia Woolf and Edgar Allan Poe. Today, the fabled connection between genius and madness is no longer merely anecdotal. Mounting research shows these two extremes of the human mind really are linked — and scientists are beginning to understand why.
A panel of experts discussed recent and ongoing research on the subject at an event held Thursday (May 31) in New York as part of the 5th annual World Science Festival. All three panelists suffer from mental illnesses themselves.
Kay Redfield Jamison, a clinical psychologist and professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said the findings of some 20 or 30 scientific studies endorse the notion of the "tortured genius." Of the many varieties of psychosis, creativity appears to be most strongly linked to mood disorders, and especially bipolar disorder, which Jamison suffers from herself. For example, one study tested the intelligence of 700,000 Swedish 16-year-olds and then followed up a decade later to learn which of them had developed mental illnesses. The startling results were published in 2010. "They found that people who excelled when they were 16 years old were four times as likely to go on to develop bipolar disorder," she said.
A panel of experts discussed recent and ongoing research on the subject at an event held Thursday (May 31) in New York as part of the 5th annual World Science Festival. All three panelists suffer from mental illnesses themselves.
Kay Redfield Jamison, a clinical psychologist and professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said the findings of some 20 or 30 scientific studies endorse the notion of the "tortured genius." Of the many varieties of psychosis, creativity appears to be most strongly linked to mood disorders, and especially bipolar disorder, which Jamison suffers from herself. For example, one study tested the intelligence of 700,000 Swedish 16-year-olds and then followed up a decade later to learn which of them had developed mental illnesses. The startling results were published in 2010. "They found that people who excelled when they were 16 years old were four times as likely to go on to develop bipolar disorder," she said.
American teens are less likely than European teens to use cigarettes and alcohol, but more likely to use illicit drugs
The U.S. had the second-lowest proportion of students who used tobacco and alcohol compared to their counterparts in 36 European countries, a new report indicates.
The results originate from coordinated school surveys about substance use from more than 100,000 students in some of the largest countries in Europe like Germany, France and Italy, as well as many smaller ones from both Eastern and Western Europe.
Because the methods and measures are largely modeled after the University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future surveys in this country, comparisons are possible between the U.S. and European results. The 15- and 16-year-old students, who were drawn in nationally representative samples in almost all of the 36 countries, were surveyed last spring. American 10th graders in the 2011 Monitoring the Future studies are of the same age, so comparisons are possible.
The results originate from coordinated school surveys about substance use from more than 100,000 students in some of the largest countries in Europe like Germany, France and Italy, as well as many smaller ones from both Eastern and Western Europe.
Because the methods and measures are largely modeled after the University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future surveys in this country, comparisons are possible between the U.S. and European results. The 15- and 16-year-old students, who were drawn in nationally representative samples in almost all of the 36 countries, were surveyed last spring. American 10th graders in the 2011 Monitoring the Future studies are of the same age, so comparisons are possible.
2 New Elements on Periodic Table Get Names
The man-made elements 114 and 116, which contain 114 and 116 protons per atom, respectively, are now officially called flerovium (Fl) and livermorium (Lv).
The names were chosen to honor the laboratories that first created the elements: the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions in Dubna, Russia, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif.
Scientists at the two institutions collaborated to synthesize both of these heavy elements by smashing calcium, which has 20 protons, into curium, which contains 96 protons. When these atomic nuclei collided (the electrons were stripped off beforehand, rendering the atoms into ions), they glommed together to create element 116.
Such large "super-heavy" elements are not stable, so element 116 decayed almost immediately into element 114. In separate trials, the researchers created 114 independently by slamming together calcium and plutonium, which has 94 protons. [Graphic: Nature's Tiniest Particles Explained]
The names were chosen to honor the laboratories that first created the elements: the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions in Dubna, Russia, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif.
Scientists at the two institutions collaborated to synthesize both of these heavy elements by smashing calcium, which has 20 protons, into curium, which contains 96 protons. When these atomic nuclei collided (the electrons were stripped off beforehand, rendering the atoms into ions), they glommed together to create element 116.
Such large "super-heavy" elements are not stable, so element 116 decayed almost immediately into element 114. In separate trials, the researchers created 114 independently by slamming together calcium and plutonium, which has 94 protons. [Graphic: Nature's Tiniest Particles Explained]
Computer-designed proteins programmed to disarm variety of flu viruses
Computer-designed proteins are under construction to fight the flu. Researchers are demonstrating that proteins found in nature, but that do not normally bind the flu, can be engineered to act as broad-spectrum antiviral agents against a variety of flu virus strains, including H1N1 pandemic influenza.
"One of these engineered proteins has a flu-fighting potency that rivals that of several human monoclonal antibodies," said Dr. David Baker, professor of biochemistry at the University of Washington, in a report in Nature Biotechnology.
Baker's research team is making major inroads in optimizing the function of computer-designed influenza inhibitors. These proteins are constructed via computer modeling to fit exquisitely into a specific nano-sized target on flu viruses. By binding the target region like a key into a lock, they keep the virus from changing shape, a tactic that the virus uses to infect living cells. The research efforts, akin to docking a space station but on a molecular level, are made possible by computers that can describe the landscapes of forces involved on the submicroscopic scale.
"One of these engineered proteins has a flu-fighting potency that rivals that of several human monoclonal antibodies," said Dr. David Baker, professor of biochemistry at the University of Washington, in a report in Nature Biotechnology.
Baker's research team is making major inroads in optimizing the function of computer-designed influenza inhibitors. These proteins are constructed via computer modeling to fit exquisitely into a specific nano-sized target on flu viruses. By binding the target region like a key into a lock, they keep the virus from changing shape, a tactic that the virus uses to infect living cells. The research efforts, akin to docking a space station but on a molecular level, are made possible by computers that can describe the landscapes of forces involved on the submicroscopic scale.
Rootworms Are Eating Their Way Through Bt Corn
On November 28, 2011, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a memo which identified the failure of Monsanto’s Bt corn to prevent “unexpected” rootworm damage to the corn crop. The EPA stated that at least four states, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, and Nebraska, are seeing “severe efficacy issues” for Monsanto’s Bt corn. The agency also noted problem areas in four additional states, Colorado, South Dakota, Minnesota, and western Wisconsin, and asked that they be monitored in the future.
Shaking its regulatory finger at Monsanto, the EPA said in no uncertain terms that the company’s resistance monitoring is “inadequate and likely to miss early resistance events.”
“It’s one of those delectable reports written not by political appointees or higher-ups, but rather by staff scientists reporting what they see,” commented Tom Philpott, the food and agricultural blogger at MotherJones. Monsanto, for its part, is sticking to its PR talking points and denying the existence of a problem. Although the company reportedly is taking the EPA’s report seriously, “Monsanto continues to believe there’s no scientific confirmation of resistance to its Bt corn,” a company spokesperson told Bloomberg news. This mirrors the sentiments the company expressed in September, a month after the Iowa State University published a study showing resistance by rootworm after ingesting the company’s Bt corn. “Our Cry3Bb1 protein is effective, and we don’t have any demonstrated field resistance,” assured a company representative in September.
Shaking its regulatory finger at Monsanto, the EPA said in no uncertain terms that the company’s resistance monitoring is “inadequate and likely to miss early resistance events.”
“It’s one of those delectable reports written not by political appointees or higher-ups, but rather by staff scientists reporting what they see,” commented Tom Philpott, the food and agricultural blogger at MotherJones. Monsanto, for its part, is sticking to its PR talking points and denying the existence of a problem. Although the company reportedly is taking the EPA’s report seriously, “Monsanto continues to believe there’s no scientific confirmation of resistance to its Bt corn,” a company spokesperson told Bloomberg news. This mirrors the sentiments the company expressed in September, a month after the Iowa State University published a study showing resistance by rootworm after ingesting the company’s Bt corn. “Our Cry3Bb1 protein is effective, and we don’t have any demonstrated field resistance,” assured a company representative in September.
Cancer therapy that boosts immune system ready for wider testing
Two clinical trials led by Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center researchers in collaboration with other medical centers, testing experimental drugs aimed at restoring the immune system's ability to spot and attack cancer, have shown promising early results in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer, melanoma, and kidney cancer. More than 500 patients were treated in the studies of two drugs that target the same immune-suppressive pathway, and the investigators say there is enough evidence to support wider testing in larger groups of patients.
Results of the Phase I clinical trials will be published online June 2 in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (Abstracts #2509 and #2510).
"Based on the positive response rates to these drugs and longevity of many of these responses, we believe that new clinical trials should move forward," says Suzanne Topalian, M.D., professor of surgery and oncology at Johns Hopkins. Preliminary analysis shows that, among responding patients who were followed for more than one year, responses were maintained for more than one year in two-thirds of those treated on one trial and in half of those in the other trial.
Results of the Phase I clinical trials will be published online June 2 in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (Abstracts #2509 and #2510).
"Based on the positive response rates to these drugs and longevity of many of these responses, we believe that new clinical trials should move forward," says Suzanne Topalian, M.D., professor of surgery and oncology at Johns Hopkins. Preliminary analysis shows that, among responding patients who were followed for more than one year, responses were maintained for more than one year in two-thirds of those treated on one trial and in half of those in the other trial.
What Can’t Graphene Do? Scientists Find New Use For ‘Miracle Material’
At only one atom thick, graphene is an unusual material that defies ordinary methods of examination. Now a team of researchers at Iowa State University has found a path to uncovering unique new capabilities of graphene, by subjecting it to short laser pulses down to the range of 10 quadrillionths of a second.
Graphene is already known to be an unusually efficient electrical conductor, considering its lack of heft. Headed by physicist Jigang Wang of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, the Iowa State research team discovered that graphene also has the ability to amplify light.
Wang, who also works at Ames National Laboratory, used laser spectroscopy techniques that are a far cry from the methods initially used to explore graphene. The material was first discovered in 2004 when U.K. researchers Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov literally used a piece of sticky tape to separate a layer of atoms from a chunk of graphite.
Because of its two-dimensional nature, graphene possesses extraordinary properties. It combines unusual strength (200 times stronger than steel, according to one estimate) with flexibility, near-transparency, and the ability to conduct electricity and heat.
Graphene is already known to be an unusually efficient electrical conductor, considering its lack of heft. Headed by physicist Jigang Wang of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, the Iowa State research team discovered that graphene also has the ability to amplify light.
Wang, who also works at Ames National Laboratory, used laser spectroscopy techniques that are a far cry from the methods initially used to explore graphene. The material was first discovered in 2004 when U.K. researchers Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov literally used a piece of sticky tape to separate a layer of atoms from a chunk of graphite.
Because of its two-dimensional nature, graphene possesses extraordinary properties. It combines unusual strength (200 times stronger than steel, according to one estimate) with flexibility, near-transparency, and the ability to conduct electricity and heat.
Search engine for social networks based on the behavior of ants
Research at Carlos III University (Universidad Carlos III) in Madrid (Universidad Carlos III -- UC3M) is developing an algorithm, based on ants' behavior when they are searching for food, which accelerates the search for relationships among elements that are present in social networks.
One of the main technical questions in the field of social networks, whose use is becoming more and more generalized, consists in locating the chain of reference that leads from one person to another, from one node to another. The greatest challenges that are presented in this area is the enormous size of these networks and the fact that the response must be rapid, given that the final user expects results in the shortest time possible. In order to find a solution to this problem, these researchers from UC3M have developed an algorithm SoSACO, which accelerates the search for routes between two nodes that belong to a graph that represents a social network.
The way SoSACO works was inspired by behavior that has been perfected over thousands of years by one of the most disciplined insects on the planet when they search for food. In general, the algorithms used by colonies of ants imitate how they are capable of finding the path between the anthill and the source of food by secreting and following a chemical trail, called a pheromone, which is deposited on the ground.
One of the main technical questions in the field of social networks, whose use is becoming more and more generalized, consists in locating the chain of reference that leads from one person to another, from one node to another. The greatest challenges that are presented in this area is the enormous size of these networks and the fact that the response must be rapid, given that the final user expects results in the shortest time possible. In order to find a solution to this problem, these researchers from UC3M have developed an algorithm SoSACO, which accelerates the search for routes between two nodes that belong to a graph that represents a social network.
The way SoSACO works was inspired by behavior that has been perfected over thousands of years by one of the most disciplined insects on the planet when they search for food. In general, the algorithms used by colonies of ants imitate how they are capable of finding the path between the anthill and the source of food by secreting and following a chemical trail, called a pheromone, which is deposited on the ground.
Tundra Shrubs Turn into Trees as Arctic Warms
Tundra is by definition a cold, treeless landscape. But scientists have found that in a part of the Eurasian Arctic, willow and alder shrubs, once stunted by harsh weather, have been growing upward to the height of trees in recent decades.
The reason for the change: the warming Arctic climate, they say.
Roughly 30 years ago, trees were nearly unknown there. Now, 10 percent to 15 percent of the land in the southern part of the northwestern Eurasian tundra, which stretches between Finland and western Siberia, is covered by new tree-size shrubs, which stand higher than 6.6 feet (2 meters), new research indicates.
"What we have found essentially is that the growth of these shrubs is really linked to temperatures," said study researcher Marc Macias-Fauria of Oxford University's Biodiversity Institute. "They are reacting to warming temperatures by growing more."
The reason for the change: the warming Arctic climate, they say.
Roughly 30 years ago, trees were nearly unknown there. Now, 10 percent to 15 percent of the land in the southern part of the northwestern Eurasian tundra, which stretches between Finland and western Siberia, is covered by new tree-size shrubs, which stand higher than 6.6 feet (2 meters), new research indicates.
"What we have found essentially is that the growth of these shrubs is really linked to temperatures," said study researcher Marc Macias-Fauria of Oxford University's Biodiversity Institute. "They are reacting to warming temperatures by growing more."
June 1, 2012
A creative life is a healthy life
There are many conversations taking place right now about creativity -- how our future depends on it, how our kids are losing it, how most schools are killing it, and how parents ought to be nurturing and encouraging it.
I recently attended a lecture on the topic by Tony Wagner, Innovation Education Fellow at Harvard's Technology & Entrepreneurship Center and author of "Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World." The lecture took place in an auditorium that was packed with parents, well-motivated on behalf of their kids.
As the mother of two small children, I, too, am very interested in what enables young innovators to flourish and perhaps even go on to change the world.
But I am equally interested in what reignites "old" innovators. That is, how can people well past what our culture defines as their prime awaken to mobilize dormant creativity?
I recently attended a lecture on the topic by Tony Wagner, Innovation Education Fellow at Harvard's Technology & Entrepreneurship Center and author of "Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World." The lecture took place in an auditorium that was packed with parents, well-motivated on behalf of their kids.
As the mother of two small children, I, too, am very interested in what enables young innovators to flourish and perhaps even go on to change the world.
But I am equally interested in what reignites "old" innovators. That is, how can people well past what our culture defines as their prime awaken to mobilize dormant creativity?
How To Live Past 110: Studying The Secrets Of The Super Centenarians
You can be live to 122, AND smoke, drink and devour chocolate. You can also do all those things and die young. Researchers try to unlock the secret to hyper-longevity.
RIO DE JANEIRO - She rode her bicycle until she was 100 years old, walked unassisted at 115 and smoked until 117. She ate a kilogram of chocolate every week and drank a glass of port wine every day. All of this, until her death, at 122.
The explantions for the "hyper-longevity" of people like Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment (1875-1997) fascinate regular folk and researchers alike. Genes? Diet? Exercise? Positive attitude? Social life? Science knows that genes count for 30% of longevity. The rest is believed to be a result of lifestyle and socio-environmental factors, many of which can be changed and adapted.
RIO DE JANEIRO - She rode her bicycle until she was 100 years old, walked unassisted at 115 and smoked until 117. She ate a kilogram of chocolate every week and drank a glass of port wine every day. All of this, until her death, at 122.
The explantions for the "hyper-longevity" of people like Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment (1875-1997) fascinate regular folk and researchers alike. Genes? Diet? Exercise? Positive attitude? Social life? Science knows that genes count for 30% of longevity. The rest is believed to be a result of lifestyle and socio-environmental factors, many of which can be changed and adapted.
Peanut Butter, Other Fatty Foods Found To Contain Fire Retardants In Recent Survey
Nothing says "lunch time" to an American kid quite like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Slices of deli meat might be a close second. Unbeknownst to most parents who pack school lunch boxes, however, both of these favorites could expose kids to toxic chemicals.
In a new study of popular products purchased from grocery stores in Dallas, Texas, researchers found that nearly half of the sampled peanut butter and cold cuts, as well as turkey, fish, beef and other fatty foods, contained traces of a flame retardant commonly used in the foam insulation of building walls.
"This is not good news. Here's yet another toxic chemical that can be found in many of the foods we buy at our supermarkets," said Dr. Arnold Schecter of the University of Texas School of Public Health and an author of the study published on Thursday. "Food does not need to have flame retardants."
In a new study of popular products purchased from grocery stores in Dallas, Texas, researchers found that nearly half of the sampled peanut butter and cold cuts, as well as turkey, fish, beef and other fatty foods, contained traces of a flame retardant commonly used in the foam insulation of building walls.
"This is not good news. Here's yet another toxic chemical that can be found in many of the foods we buy at our supermarkets," said Dr. Arnold Schecter of the University of Texas School of Public Health and an author of the study published on Thursday. "Food does not need to have flame retardants."
Warming gas levels hit 'troubling milestone'
The world's air has reached what scientists call a troubling new milestone for carbon dioxide, the main global warming pollutant.
Monitoring stations across the Arctic this spring are measuring more than 400 parts per million of the heat-trapping gas in the atmosphere. The number isn't quite a surprise, because it's been rising at an accelerating pace. Years ago, it passed the 350 ppm mark that many scientists say is the highest safe level for carbon dioxide. It now stands globally at 395.
So far, only the Arctic has reached that 400 level, but the rest of the world will follow soon.
"The fact that it's 400 is significant," said Jim Butler, global monitoring director at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Earth System Research Lab in Boulder, Colo. "It's just a reminder to everybody that we haven't fixed this and we're still in trouble."
Monitoring stations across the Arctic this spring are measuring more than 400 parts per million of the heat-trapping gas in the atmosphere. The number isn't quite a surprise, because it's been rising at an accelerating pace. Years ago, it passed the 350 ppm mark that many scientists say is the highest safe level for carbon dioxide. It now stands globally at 395.
So far, only the Arctic has reached that 400 level, but the rest of the world will follow soon.
"The fact that it's 400 is significant," said Jim Butler, global monitoring director at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Earth System Research Lab in Boulder, Colo. "It's just a reminder to everybody that we haven't fixed this and we're still in trouble."
Predicting burglary patterns through math modeling of crime
Pattern formation in physical, biological, and sociological systems has been studied for many years. Despite the fact that these subject areas are completely diverse, the mathematics that describes underlying patterns in these systems can be surprisingly similar. Mathematical tools can be used to study such systems and predict their patterns.
One area where the study of pattern formation has been of growing interest is in crime modeling. It has been observed that criminal activity tends to cluster in space and time in urban settings. Analyzing spatio-temporal patterns of urban crime using mathematical modeling can reveal hidden patterns in the process of criminal activity, and potentially help establish methods for prevention.
The authors of a paper published this month in the SIAM Journal on Mathematical Analysis analyzed pattern formation as a model to predict burglaries. The rate of burglaries tends to be higher for houses that have been burglarized before or are close neighbors of those that have been burglarized. This leads to the creation of burglary hotspots. Authors Steve Cantrell, Chris Cosner, and Raúl Manásevich propose a model to generate patterns that would describe the specific location of such hotspots.
One area where the study of pattern formation has been of growing interest is in crime modeling. It has been observed that criminal activity tends to cluster in space and time in urban settings. Analyzing spatio-temporal patterns of urban crime using mathematical modeling can reveal hidden patterns in the process of criminal activity, and potentially help establish methods for prevention.
The authors of a paper published this month in the SIAM Journal on Mathematical Analysis analyzed pattern formation as a model to predict burglaries. The rate of burglaries tends to be higher for houses that have been burglarized before or are close neighbors of those that have been burglarized. This leads to the creation of burglary hotspots. Authors Steve Cantrell, Chris Cosner, and Raúl Manásevich propose a model to generate patterns that would describe the specific location of such hotspots.
Can Sugar Make You Stupid? “High Concern” in Wake of Rat Study
Sweet drinks scrambled the memories and stunted learning in lab rats in a new study—leading to “high concern” over what sugary diets may do to people, according to neuroscientist Fernando Gomez-Pinilla.
For the study, Gomez-Pinilla’s team first trained rats to successfully navigate a maze, giving them only water and standard rat chow for five days. During the following six weeks, the rats’ water was replaced with syrups that were 15 percent fructose.
“Most sodas people consume are about 12 percent sugar, so imagine if you drank soda with sugar added instead of water,” said Gomez-Pinilla, of the University of California, Los Angeles.m
During the six-week period, half the rodents were also given flaxseed oil and fish oil—both rich in omega-3 fatty acids. These antioxidants may protect against damage to chemical connections in the brain called synapses, past research suggests.
After six weeks of the fructose syrup, all the rats were slower at running the maze. However, those that had received omega-3s were slightly faster than their counterparts.
For the study, Gomez-Pinilla’s team first trained rats to successfully navigate a maze, giving them only water and standard rat chow for five days. During the following six weeks, the rats’ water was replaced with syrups that were 15 percent fructose.
“Most sodas people consume are about 12 percent sugar, so imagine if you drank soda with sugar added instead of water,” said Gomez-Pinilla, of the University of California, Los Angeles.m
During the six-week period, half the rodents were also given flaxseed oil and fish oil—both rich in omega-3 fatty acids. These antioxidants may protect against damage to chemical connections in the brain called synapses, past research suggests.
After six weeks of the fructose syrup, all the rats were slower at running the maze. However, those that had received omega-3s were slightly faster than their counterparts.
Men's Porn Use Linked to Unhappy Relationships
Young women who report that their romantic partners look at porn frequently are less happy in their relationships than women partnered with guys who more often abstain, new research finds.
The study bolsters some anecdotal evidence that men's porn use can shake the self-esteem of their girlfriends or wives, though certainly not all couples have conflicts over pornography, said study researcher Destin Stewart, a clinical psychology intern at the University of Florida. Stewart decided to investigate the effect of porn on relationships after some of her clients revealed that they were struggling with the issue.
Discovering explicit material on a partner's computer "made them feel like they were not good enough, like they could not measure up," Stewart told LiveScience.
The study bolsters some anecdotal evidence that men's porn use can shake the self-esteem of their girlfriends or wives, though certainly not all couples have conflicts over pornography, said study researcher Destin Stewart, a clinical psychology intern at the University of Florida. Stewart decided to investigate the effect of porn on relationships after some of her clients revealed that they were struggling with the issue.
Discovering explicit material on a partner's computer "made them feel like they were not good enough, like they could not measure up," Stewart told LiveScience.
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